North Texas Travels To SMU For Final Dual Meet Of Season

Mean Green Seek First Metroplex Sweep Of TCU And SMU In School Histoy

DENTON -- The North Texas swimming and diving team made some history last week, defeating TCU for just the fourth time in 23 meetings all-time and improving to 7-3 in dual meets this season, which marks the best start in school history.

One week later, the Mean Green take on another Metroplex rival in SMU on Friday in Mansfield, Texas, looking to make some more history.

The school record of nine dual-meet wins may be out of reach, but with a win over SMU, North Texas would finish the 2015-16 season with an 8-3 dual-meet record and a .727 winning percentage, which would be the best mark in school history. A win over the Mustangs would also be the first in 15 meetings all-time and give the Mean Green its first Metroplex sweep of TCU and SMU in school history.

Last time out, North Texas won each of the first 10 swimming events and won 12 of the 16 events overall on the way to a wire-to-wire 180-120 win over TCU on Senior Day. Freshman Rebekah Bradley, sophomore Isabelle Morris and sophomore Claudia Kitching each recorded a pair of first-place finishes in the win.

Bradley earned Conference USA Swimmer of the Week honors for her performance against TCU, taking first place in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events and was also a part of a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, swimming the backstroke leg of the event.

Kitching (200-yard breaststroke) and fellow sophomores Caroline Culpepper (200-yard butterfly) Sarah Vaisse (100-yard breaststroke) hold the fastest times in their respective events in Conference USA this season. Kitching has also posted two NCAA B time standards in the 200-yard breaststroke, including a season-best time of 2:13.51.

On the boards, four different divers posted season-best scores against TCU, including junior Samantha Scheck who placed second and third in the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions, respectively, while senior Jasmine Abercrombie finished fourth in both competitions. Scheck just missed an NCAA zone qualifying score with a career-best score of 263.92 on the 1-meter.

SMU hosts North Texas for its own Senior Day on Friday. The Mustangs, an NCAA Championships participant in 2014-15, enter the meet with a 3-2 record in dual meets, falling in dual-meet action to then-No. 5 Texas A&M in its first dual meet of 2016.

North Texas and SMU raced previously this season at the North Texas Relays, where SMU won first and North Texas placed second. In their last dual meet, SMU edged North Texas by a score of 131-112 last season.

Their duel in the pool begins at 5 p.m. from the Mansfield Natatorium. They return to the same pool for pre-conference time trial event on Saturday that starts at 2 p.m. and will also feature teams from Oklahoma Baptist and Wayland Baptist.